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| Chambermaids never know what they will find behind the door |
Chambermaids have been fighting for decades to improve their working conditions. Although they've managed to improve certain aspects, they continue to face a situation that seriously hinders their work: the state of some clients' rooms. In recent weeks this controversy has been revived due to the publication of a video on the social network, TikTok, in which a chambermaid shows the state in which a room of some clients who have just left the hotel has been found. Empty bags, clothes and all kinds of rubbish thrown around the room.
Reme, a chambermaid, told Atlántico Hoy that this situation has been going on for many years. “I have come to find all kinds of things, from pee to open dirty nappies on the floor of the room.” It is also the testimony of Mónica, president of Kellys Unión Tenerife, who highlights how unfeasible it is to clean this type of room, as well as the workload that it entails.
‘’When you go to clean those rooms you don’t know where to start’’
The chambermaids define their work as "against the clock", so when they encounter this type of situation, it generates unforeseen events that they have to solve in the time they have to do the work. Reme explains that these actions depend on the type of client. "Where we see these cases the most is in the low-cost, youth and drunk customers." Likewise, the maid emphasizes that she has even found vomit, defecation and pee in the middle of the rooms.
In addition, Reme emphasizes that this also happens with families. ''I have had to pick up more than ten nappies from the ground. Also clothes, food in the bathroom mixed with makeup or creams''. On many occasions, the chambermaids do not know how to proceed due to the situation they find in the rooms. ''Sometimes you don't know how to place things. On top of that, we have the responsibility that if something is missing, it's our fault,'' says Mónica, president of Kellys Unión Tenerife. Reme indicates that this type of client is also not usually careful with mobiles, tablets or consoles. ''Due to the speed of our work, we cannot always check that there is nothing in the middle of the rolled sheets, and many times objects arrive at the laundry', she explains.
No fixed hours
Monica explains that the situation is known by the sector as a whole. ''This is known in the profession in general, and it affects our workload. The time you spend in one room under those circumstances, you take away from the others,'' she says. A maid cannot leave her job or finish her shift without doing all the work she has to do that day, even if she spends more than 2 hours cleaning that type of room. "We don't know what job we're going to have to do when we arrive, and we can't leave without finishing the job, because it's grounds for sanction."
Add as a hotel rule that guests respect the room?
Mónica expresses that there should be a law that requires clients to leave the room in a condition to clean it, during their stay as well as on the day of departure, penalizing those who leave it in poor condition. Reme insists that it would be logical for this rule to reach all establishments, both hotels and apartments, since “they are basic rules of coexistence, hygiene and respect,'' she expresses.
